U.S. Treasury yields moved higher on Friday as investors digested the previous day’s data release, which showed jobless claims edging lower, below expectations.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was up 4 basis points at 2.926% at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond traded up about 3 basis points to 3.1728%. Yields move inversely to prices, and a basis point is equal to 0.01%.
The yield on the short-term 2-year Treasury note also traded around 2 basis points higher at 3.255%.
The rise in yields was a shift from the previous session, which saw yields cooling as markets mulled over the Federal Reserve’s released July meeting minutes. The Fed indicated that it would continue hiking rates until inflation slows down significantly, although the central bank could soon decrease its pace of tightening.
Thursday also revealed a further slowdown in housing demand, with home sales falling nearly 6% in July as the housing market enters a contraction.
Jobless claims counted at 250,000 for the week ending Aug. 13, down 2,000 from the prior week and below the Dow Jones estimate of 260,000.
Markets and monetary policy officials are watching the job market closely, as rate increases aim to cool a labor market and 40-year high inflation. Fed policymakers said that lowering inflation is top priority, even if it means a decrease in hiring, according to the minutes released Wednesday.
The Fed is considering another large rate hike in September, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Thursday, adding that he can’t say for sure that inflation has peaked.
“We should continue to move expeditiously to a level of the policy rate that will put significant downward pressure on inflation … I don’t really see why you want to drag out interest rate increases into next year,” Bullard said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Data releases on oil rig counts conducted by Baker Hughes are due Friday.